The Defenders Was Weak

And I totally blame the directors. The writing wasn’t awesome, but I’ve put up with worse. The actors are good, but most of them have been better elsewhere. The fight scenes were often awesome. But the directing was weak.

I really had high hopes that The Defenders would be good mostly because season 2 of Daredevil had been good. Season 1 had similarly shitty directing. This scene from season 1 could have been done so many different ways, but they decided to keep the two characters sitting still across from each other. Talking.

So much of the directing in The Defenders was about moving the camera around or finding weird camera angles. I know there were different directors for almost every episode, but aside from a few good moments, the direction for the series was universally weak. Two people sitting and talking isn’t a scene. A woman looking at a scratched record that has nothing to do with the story? Not a scene.

But I discovered the show Norsemen on Netflix, and it is awesome. If you like Vikings or Game of Thrones, (or if you hate them) you will enjoy it. It has relieved some of my disappointment with The Defenders.